Arthur could see there were a good number of bounties. Most were not particularly valuable - perhaps fighting and killing the Demon Lord or Supreme Goddess weren’t that big after Acnologia - but there were some big ones. Having demons and angels from settings and worlds he was absolutely not familiar with was potentially quite lucrative, but he had no idea what the effects would be or how dangerous it would be. Creating a species was worth 400 points; 1000 if he was literally the father of the species. That one would require Selene’s cooperation.
And then there was ‘This is My Sin.’ It was simple enough: choose one of the 7 Deadly Sins and you exemplify it at a level to match Escanor at his worst. It was that ‘worst’ which was troublesome. Escanor’s pride ebbed and flowed throughout the series, but his worst…
Arthur breathed deeply and considered. Pride would lead to overconfidence which could change a battle against the demon king from winnable to deadly; and it would push such a battle. If he was as proud as Escanor at his worst, he’d actually try and fight Chaos itself, and he had no idea how well that would go but he was pretty certain he needed his wits about him if he did so.
Wrath was right out. Greed too. Envy as well. Sloth he’d do little or nothing. It’d be giving up on all the other bounties, and on being interesting. Lust was… unlikely to make Selene happy and… His thoughts wandered to Minerva. She was like a daughter to him, but he didn’t trust lust to equal Escanor’s pride at its worst around anyone. That left Gluttony. The number of points provided was impressive. He could simply grab another high end power. But what would that level of gluttony even look like? The word worst kept sticking in his mind. It wasn’t as gluttonous as Escanor was proud, it was as he was at his worst. And that was a huge difference; Escanor’s worse wasn’t common, and his very worst moments were… Arthur couldn’t remember them only that they were bad.
And while the effects would be gone after this world, it would still be 10 years. Oh, the amount of time where it was probably critically influential was only maybe 2 years, but even if the enforced gluttony was removed at the end of the decade, experiences changed people. He wasn’t the same person he was a decade ago. Living out a decade with his mind twisted by hunger would influence how he acted in the future and he couldn’t tell you how it would do so.
No. He’d not take that bounty. Though that brought up another one. One he’d refused 10 years ago: ‘A New Name for You.’ It was simple enough. Take a new name. And a name was an important part of yourself. But… this was Arthurian Britain. He was named after the mythical king. Walking around as a second Arthur was going to be confusing, especially if he became a king. He didn’t want to be named the same thing as a major character, especially one who he knew was going to become a villain for some reason; even if he didn’t know how or why.
Selene looked over the document. She had plenty of points, but things were expensive. There was the question of whether she wanted to risk background memories. It’d give her a new life, but if she was choosing to be a human it would be a mayfly life, miniscule compared to the centuries she had lived as a dragon. And simultaneously it’d give her a much clearer understanding of humanity.
She’d be able to resume her dragon nature. It’d take a few moments, and wouldn’t be effective in a fight, but it’d still be possible for her. And it would give her a true idea of humanity.
She was going to make that choice. She would be part of this human world and human age. And if she felt the need she could always reclaim her full strength. At that point it made her choice of background clear. Royalty would give her a pampered life. Holy knight would make her a warrior. Fugitive would mean being an outlaw. But what mattered more might be the powers associated with each one.
Selene’s fingers intertwined with Arthur’s as she squeezed his hand. And she turned her head towards the smiley face creature. “What happens if Arthur dies?”
“He is disqualified and sent home.” The smiley face answered.
“And Minerva and I will be sent with him, but what if we have magic to revive him?”
“It does not change things. There are powers and abilities which can be obtained to get around this, but your ability to revive him will not prevent his disqualification.”
Selene could feel Arthur’s eyes on her. She leaned towards him, planting a kiss on his cheeks. She turned her mind’s eye towards the document again.
“What if Minerva or Selene die?” Arthur asked. His hand was squeezing back tightly around hers.
“They will be revived and restored at the end of the jump. It will only be temporary for them. At least till the chain is over and you are returned to your home world. At that point death will be death for you or them.”
Selene smiled a bit as she felt the light, relaxation of Arthur’s hand on hers. She needed to consider what she would take. Royalty had been an easy choice for its healing powers when it had given her the ability to potentially resurrect Arthur - if only once - it was potentially invaluable. As it was, it was rather unnecessary. Drop-in had tempting powers. Kin of the Faith would allow her to use her full power without threatening Arthur or Minerva. Vengeful Souls would allow her to cause disruptions and distortions, and that chaos could cause rise to some power which would be useful in future worlds.
But she wanted to experience humanity, and while Drop-In would allow her to unleash without endangering her friends, it wasn’t enough to tip the scales. Besides another path had what might be even more promising; it didn’t give her ways to create distortions, but it would give her ways to survive them.
She made her choices.
Minerva considered what path to take. It was obviously Holy Knight or Fugitive. If she wanted to select a magic power - and she did - those gave her back more than they cost, and while she was somewhat wary of accepting another’s life into her own, she had done so before and she knew she could handle it. That left the decision of which. And what race.
The races all had their strengths. Still she quickly had it down to three. They each provided strengths and would push her into very different positions and paths. Still after some consideration she had come to her decision.
Selene’s question to the smiley face had given her more to think about. Death was something she - and Selene - had second chances to get past. It didn’t matter if she could survive the battles ahead as much as if she could prove useful in them.
Her train of thought was disrupted when Arthur suddenly announced: “I’m taking the A New Name For You bounty.”
“Why?” She asked. It was worth 50 points, but as there didn’t seem to be any options to take that were worth that, why to take it now and not later was a question she couldn’t help but wonder about.
“Because King Arthur is a significant character, and I think the main villain in like a decade, and given I’m named after him, things could get confusing. So I’m going to choose another,” Arthur explained.
“Ok, I guess.” It was reasonable enough.
“I’m debating one of 4 names. Ambrosius, Weland, Hrolf, or Bodvar Bjarki.”
“Why those?” Selene asked.
“Ambrosius is a name from the very start of Arthurian legend. It predates the sources that the manga drew on, and I don’t think an Ambrosius shows up. Ambrosius, known as Ambrosius the Wise, was a Roman official or pre-Christian pagan god, who was granted with magical powers and the gift of prophecy. They were the original version of Merlin,” Arthur began to explain.
“Merlin?” Minerva had seen the name in the purchase options. She was apparently a powerful witch or wizard.
“The wizard Merlin is King Arthur’s mentor. …” Arthur began. It was a long aside, bringing up things such as post-Chretien, post-vulgate, the History of the Britons, and something called the Matter of England. She didn’t really follow it all. It seemed that Arthurian legend had a long history, a lot of changes, was mostly something called fan fiction, and the world they were going to was based on a manga based on the fan fiction that was based on the fan fiction of this other person which was based on pre-existing folk lore. She wasn’t completely sure how this was altogether relevant to why name himself after Ambrosius. However Arthur eventually returned to something meaningful.“ … the world draws more from the post-vulgate, or at least post-Chretien de Troyes Arthurian legends, than the early English sources, and… actually where is Escanor and his sun power from?”
“Sunshine?” Minerva queried.
“Yeah. Escanor’s power. In Arthurian legend he was a giant who fought Gawaine and they both had the same sun-based power. I didn’t read that story. I think it’s probably post-Chretien, most are.”
Minerva repressed a groan at Arthur’s continued tangent away from what was impactful. “But that’d be the Sunshine power? It’s rather expensive. How powerful is it? Actually how powerful are power levels in general?”
“I… Don’t really remember,” Arthur confessed.
The smiley face made the sound of clearing its non-existent throat. “I can provide a partial answer to that. Power levels are increasingly inconsistent throughout the series, and as they increase in a field above 1000 they should be taken with increasing levels of doubt and understanding that those values shown are estimates only. Still at 600 Strength with a proper weapon to serve as a focus and power multiplier one it is possible to cut down smaller trees with the air pressure of your attacks, throw large objects great distances, and embed them into the ground. At 20,000 strength one becomes a true threat to the landscape, able to cut through stone outcroppings and hills with the air pressure of your attacks - more easily with a proper weapon. Higher levels of specified strength do not show clear higher results, though Escanor’s physical power is enough to make lakes from the craters of his attacks. Magical power and spirit are more vague in their showings. In her true form exerting her full power Selene’s magical power and physical strength both reach the level at which the numbers become vague and rapidly expanding, seemingly showing a diminishing return. Arthur’s magical power also reaches those levels. Arthur’s strength without using specific magic to augment it is beneath 10,000. Yours,” the smiley face stared straight towards Minerva, “Your Magical Power would be somewhat above 10,000. With the arrangement you were considering your Physical Strength would be increased to over 11,000, while your magical power would end up situated at approximately 20,000. With proper magical skill, or power your raw output would be higher than Arthur’s when you first encountered him. Of course most who demonstrate such a level of magical power use ancillary abilities which are secondary to their main magical talent.”
Minerva wasn’t exactly certain of what the smiley face meant, but she had a basic idea. There were the powers of a witch, and then there were the special powers that you purchased separately. “And sunshine…?”
“With your base, in raw power, near noon, you would surpass Selene or Arthur as they are now.” Minerva nodded. She had always lagged behind them. Selene was a dragon god, her raw power was insane. Arthur was the strongest mage in the world. But that was in raw power. There was the problem of skills and abilities.
“Could I defeat Arthur with that power?” Minerva felt Arthur’s and Selene’s eyes on her. Minerva wanted to roll her eyes at the shock and displeasure on their face. Arthur was the most meaningful reference point for power she had.
The smiley face paused. “It would not grant you enough raw power to overcome his pure spatial magic with your territory magic. As for actual victory, I am not allowed to answer that.”
Minerva sighed. “What about…” She started to ask about one of the other main options she was considering.
“Flash is similar to movement capabilities of White Dragon Slayer Magic. It is superior, though it lacks some of the versatility around it and would not work in conjunction with those elements of your magic.”
That was what Minerva was worried about with the Flash option. “And what about…”
“Its power is highly reliant on the foes you face. Magical power would increase your speed, effectiveness, and range with it, but physical strength would increase how much you could actually contain and carry in yourself.”
Minerva nodded. “How would…”
“It would not directly merge or interact with your Territory or Space Dragon Slayer Magic. Like with Flash there is some direct overlap between Space Dragon Slayer Magic and its effects, though where Flash is more focused and powerful in its direct effect, this is much broader than your slayer magic. Of course it is only a small part of the perk.”
Minerva nodded. “And…”
“The Sacred Spear is a highly powerful and versatile weapon. Each sacred spear is unique and different, but they do share the base form of a spear that is animate and capable of projecting energy blasts, and the form of an autonomous guardian creation. Traditionally Disaster is used to improve its performance.”
That was problematic. While getting it along with Disaster was possible, she hadn’t been heavily considering that power. “How about…”
“Neither canon wielder overcame the power of sunshine, though it potentially could. It would scale with your increasing base better than sunshine, but it would take time and a prolonged dance.”
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“I think I have the information I need to make my choice,” Minerva said. She wasn’t sure which it would be. She was still considering 3 options, but she had a better idea now.
“So, what about the other three names?” Selen asked now that Minerva’s discussion with the face was finished.
“Well they’re all from Norse mythology,” Arthur stated.
“Norse mythology?” Selene’s question launched Arthur into a spiel which moved from explaining what mythology was to Nordic culture, to viking raids, the Danelaw, and Normand conquest of Britain and following proliferation of Arthurian legend.
“So Hrolf is from Norse sagas. He’s a mythical king of Denmark.”
“Those would be the Danes who conquered England?”
“Well the Danes who conquered England were more the Norwegians, like Cnut was king of Norway, but he also ruled Denmark, and they were a linked people… and yeah. But while he didn’t have the sword in the stone like Sigurd the Volsung and King Arthur he did form the court of the golden age like Camelot and gather his knights of honor and glory around him like King Arthur. So he’s the charismatic king.”
“And you want to name yourself that.” Selene’s voice was teasing there, causing Arthur to blush.
“You disapprove?”
“No. It’s an aspiration I spent most of the last decade trying to foster in you. I just thought I’d failed.”
Arthur looked down and away. “I don’t really intend to try and rule anywhere in this world.”
“And the other two names?”
“Bodvar Bjarki is the Norse version of Beowulf.”
“Beowulf?”
“He’s from an Old English work. The oldest surviving complete… English epic? Poem? Story? It’s not older than Arthurian legend - those start showing up in the 7th and 8th centuries, though they don’t reach their final forms till much later than that, where Beowulf is… well if I recall correctly the manuscript is from like the 10th century, but the story might be older, and it takes place contemporaneously with or possibly before Arthurian legend.”
“Ok… So why would you want to name yourself after the Norse version?”
“Because he’s got a cooler sounding name than Beowulf, and he’s the biggest badass in Hrolf’s court, and Beowulf is the badass of Old English literature.
“What makes him such a ‘badass’?”
“He ripped the arm off of a monster, swam down to the bottom of a lake, fought the monster’s mom who destroyed a legendary sword, and then he killed the first dragon in literature that hits all of the key notes of a dragon as you’d kno…” Arthur stopped, and flushed. “Sorry.”
“I know you’re a dragon slayer, dear,” Selene said. “But I don’t want you naming yourself after someone whose claim to fame is killing a dragon.”
“Sorry.”
“I had you slay dragons for me. It’s alright.”
“And that brings us to Weland.”
“So who is this Wayland?”
“Weland the Smith is one of the few confirmed elves.”
“Elves?”
Arthur breathed in and began to explain what an elf was, finally ending with, “And I was thinking about going as a Fairy, so Weland, as the English name for the elf, felt like it’d fit into Britain and the world, while I don’t think he showed up since his role in Arthurian legend was older English sources only, and while he forged Caliburn the Sword in the Stone, this world if I recall correctly goes with the later source that it came from Nimue the Lady of the Lake and is Excalibur the post-Norman name for the blade.”
“So…”
“I think I’ll go with Weland,” Arthur said.
Selene nodded. “I think I can get used to that.”
Arthur breathed deeply and mentally addressed the bounty. A moment later Weland was looking at his companions. “So, looking over things, we will be arriving about a year before the events of the manga. Most of the bounties require the first part of the manga to play out as is. That means we don’t want to stop the holy knights of Lyonesse, Liones, from releasing the 10 Commandments, or the Seven Deadly Sins from opposing them. We can’t help, we can’t get in the way. But there are two bounties which force us to get involved. We need to get the Holy Knights ready to be meaningful players in the war, though it doesn’t specify which kingdom’s holy knights, and we need to make it so they can safely use and control demon blood.”
The three began to converse and speak about strategy and plans. After some time Weland looked at the smiley face. “So with these bounties to have chaos create forces and outside ones come when do I need to select them?”
“Please wait a moment…” The smiley face said. A few minutes passed, before it cleared its throat. “... If either is selected at the beginning it will be possible to select the other later.”
Weland nodded softly. “And with the one that has things come from the outside, do I select what exactly comes?”
“No.”
“Do I select the number and tier?”
“Please wait a moment…” The smiley face answered. A few minutes passed again, “...I am unable to answer that at this time. Higher authorities are undecided.”
“So I guess I can’t take that at the beginning.”
“... That is so. It will remain open even if you do not elect to have chaos create potential new threats and foes.”
Weland nodded, and he looked at Selene and Minerva before breathing deeply. He was about to speak when Selene pre-empted him. “You should take it.” Weland’s quizzical look got her to continue. “It’s not worth much, but it will be generating things that fit this world, and almost certainly do not match the Demon Lord or Supreme Goddess in power. You intend to try and fight - and defeat - them both, so they won’t be much of a threat to you.”
“Yeah, but they could be a threat to other people.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but ones that must be selected before entering the world are at least in part because they affect which version of the world you will be entering. Even if it doesn’t, they’ll be coming for you not for others, and it’s not like the world won’t respond to your existence. If this Chaos can create things in response to you, don’t you think they will regardless due to your power?”
Weland prepared to counter that he was pretty sure Chaos was sealed or something normally. But he realized he wasn’t certain about that. There were pieces of it out and about already. He thought. It’d been a long time since he’d read the manga. “I… I don’t know.”
“Besides, you intend to fight the very strongest of the world. Don’t you think you should get as much experience as possible in fighting what it can throw at you before that?” Weland hesitated, and Selene pressed on. “Plus we’re expected to be interesting. Turning it down would be much more boring than accepting it, wouldn’t it?”
“Are the points worth that much to you?”
“No. Making certain we get powerful enough to survive, and prosper is. The points help with that, but we’ll need more than them to do that.”
Weland looked at Selene. He could see the determination and confidence in her beliefs on her face. There was something in it that felt too much the ends justify the means. People could get hurt. But she was right. He would get stronger a lot faster with foes to face. And his existence was going to change things. His mere attempt to empower the Holy Knights could disrupt canon events. He intended to save Camelot. And he was pretty sure the Ten Commandments used it as their main base for a time. Not saving it would mean the most prosperous, rising hope for the world was snuffed out. Saving it would mean that the happy ending was no longer guaranteed regardless. And this was similar. It could hurt people. But it could give him the abilities needed to help people too. Even if not in this world it might ensure the worst case didn’t happen. But it meant choosing to risk innocents.
But failing to be interesting or entertaining meant going home, and finding someone else had made those choices. If they wanted the person who would choose such fights they’d have them. And there was no guarantee it’d be someone who hesitated to make such choices.
His mind glanced at the bounty ‘My Frankenstein’s Monster.’ It’d not necessarily just be the person who’d face such dangers, but who would make them.
Though really this was largely excuses. He wanted Selene with him. She was going to make distortions to get the power needed. Whatever sugar coating he put over it, the truth was he couldn’t both bring her along and hold to some refusal to do so. Which meant he might as well embrace it.
“Fine,” Weland answered. “We’ll face such distortions. But are you sure of this?”
“Of course. Don’t worry. I intend to be able to handle myself here,” Selene said.
They both looked at Minerva then. The dark haired mage nodded. “I can handle it,” She said. “If I can’t that’s all the more reason I need to.”
Weland selected the bounty, and the smiley face cleared its throat once again. “It is time to finalize choices before we begin.”
Weland’s eyes opened. He was in the streets of a city. It was a medieval city, maybe a mere town, he wasn’t a medievalist to properly define which. But he knew the name of it. It was Camelot.
And it was gigantic. It took him a few moments to come to terms with why it was so massive. It wasn’t that it was large. It was that he was tiny. He had chosen to be a fairy, and he was not a fairy king. Even the fairy kings and holy maidens were small compared to human average, but normal fairies were the size of young children. He was tiny.
And people were noticing him. He’d appeared from nowhere in the city streets. It was enough to get them gasping, and pointing. He no longer had the distinctive blue-white hair of the last world, but he was a member of the fairy clan, and most humans of Camelot would never have seen his like.
The fact that his clothes were ill-fitting, still sized for a human, wasn’t exactly helping much either. He wrapped himself in his territory and disappeared, appearing instead on the rooftop of one of the buildings, hidden behind a chimney.
He considered the clothing problem. He re-quipped a suit of armor, allowing the magic to resize the armor. It took a touch of improvisation to prevent it from constraining his wings, slits forming so that the armor appeared with them already pushed out. The Sea King’s Regalia wasn’t necessarily the most appropriate outfit for the region but it would do until he found another option. Already a use of this world’s magic was popping into his head - one which would allow him to resize his clothes if he felt the need for such.
Still that came second. First was finding Minerva and Selene. He hadn’t seen them around him, and he didn’t feel their magic power. He was about to open his archive to try and find them through its link when he realized he did feel Selene’s magic power. It was different, so much less than it had been before, and without the feeling of a dragon which she’d always had before, but he could feel it. And she was using it. It took him only a moment to be on the rooftops nearby her, it was better to observe an instant and figure out how he could help, than to teleport directly into the situation and risk getting in her way.
Selene found the experience of inserting into the world disorienting. It wasn’t the changes to her body - she’d used enough self-transformation magic to have gotten used to shifts in her body proportions - but the fact that she could suddenly remember two lives. A moment before she’d been selecting her being and nature in this world, but she’d also been in the middle of stealing herself some supper from a bread merchant in Camelot.
It left her confused for a moment. But that moment was enough for someone to notice her awkward fumbling and give a call to the holy knights to stop the thief. Instead of responding quickly, Selene found herself freezing. She had two conflicting sets of instincts and reactions. On one side there was that of the immortal thief, one who had lived in this world of knights and fairies for about 40 years - though she had stopped aging when barely an adult - and whose first reaction was to run. On the other side there was the proud, dragon god-queen, who had ruled with power and authority, and did not run from common mages, and whose first reaction was to use her power.
And not knowing which to listen to, her reaction and reflexes were slowed. By the time she decided to hide it was already too late. She darted for an alley, but one knight was firmly behind her, and his screams of thief and halt were almost certain to draw another.
She was moving faster than she was used to, but slower as well. As a thief she had had little in the way of power, being merely the equal of the least of holy knights. As a dragon god she could blow away the entirety of Camelot with little more than a flap of her wings if she resumed her true form. But now the two were merged, and in this truly human form she held only a fraction of the power she had held in her fake one. She was a far cry from the power of a dragon god, but even that small portion of its power was magnitudes more than she was used to possessing. Her body moved at a rate unfamiliar to either the dragon or the thief. Meaning she couldn’t make the most of her new speed.
A second Holy Knight moved to cut her off, and Selene’s hand rose. Creamy, off-white flames erupted from beneath the knight and when they passed the man was gone. Selene hadn’t killed him. She’d merely teleported him away.
But Selene had momentarily stopped to do so, and the man behind her raised his sword and charging it with energy fired a blast of electricity straight into her back. She fell to the ground, and then the same flames erupted around the knight. She rose, her cloak, and clothes, in charred tatters on her back, but her body already fully healed from the attack.
And then she heard a voice calling her name. The voice had a high pitch, but as she turned she recognized the armor they wore. It was one of Weland’s suits of armor. His underwater gear. She recognized the bronze breastplate, the scaled swimsuit of the bottom, the gloves, the boots, and the trident. She did not recognize the one wearing it. If he was a human he was deformed, his head too large for his body, his body too large for his limbs, and yet all too small to be human. The wings from his back, merely reinforced what the disfigured proportions of his body had begun to tell her. He was a fairy. He didn’t look too much like Weland. His face might be similar, but it was hard to tell as it practically appeared swollen, and it wasn’t proportioned right for a human face, but his hair was brown and straight instead of the blue and white spikes she was used to. Still he was wearing Weland’s armor and he’d recognized her. Which coupled with Weland’s intent to be a fairy made it rather likely that Weland was the fairy.
“Weland?” She asked.
The kiss that followed was definitely Weland’s, even if she found it less pleasing than usual. As a dragon, her requirements for human attractiveness had been low. All humans looked rather interchangeably human after all; they lacked the tell-tale signs of biological fitness that she’d recognize in dragons on an instinctive level. This life she had just entered into had a more refined sense of how humans, especially human males, should look. Weland’s new fairy form didn’t meet either criteria. It was small, disproportionate, practically deformed, like some cartoonish exaggeration; the sort of shape that made one remember goblins were British fairies.
Even in her memories, Weland didn’t stand up to the dashing and charming knight of her dreams of this world, but looks weren’t everything. He didn’t repulse or disgust her like the stout, big headed, chibi-esque fairy form. Still she could tell from the look on his face after the kiss she’d made a face of her own.
“We should get going before more knights come,” Selene said hastily, hands rising and her magic reaching out. A moment later they were outside of Camelot, the city barely visible on a hill in the distance.
Weland sighed lightly, doing his best to hide it. “We should probably decide on how to proceed from here,” He said.
“Stop pouting. I still love you,” Selene told him. She wanted to cut off this self-pity before it became insufferable. “Just your fairy shape is…”
“Ugly?”
“Have you looked in a mirror?”
“Haven’t had time,” Weland confessed.
Selene’s hand waved, and a disc of magical energy formed, becoming a reflective pane. She laughed when Weland flinched away from his own reflection. “See?”
“Quite ugly.”
“Precisely,” Selene said and then she began to blush as she felt the chill air on her back, her hand reaching behind herself to feel her bare skin. It was an odd feeling. She’d never had much in the way of shame or embarrassment at her body as a dragon. She’d never understood the reason humans felt such; but now she had a second self who had grown up under that cultural conditioning. “I think step one is I should find some new clothes.”